Furby Wranglings

Never thought I'd be glad to have a finicky eater for a pet!

Bel has NEVER liked the 'meat chunks in gravy' style of dogfood; it would sit in her bowl until it got all dried up and crusty and I got tired of looking at it, and dumped it while grumbling about wasted money and finicky Chows....

Then came the Deadly Pet Food Recall last week, and while we did have several cans of the recalled brands, none of them were the 'meat w/gravy' style or carrying the batch numbers. WHEW! And there was talk of having tracked the tainted food to a specific wheat-gluten supplier, and today the talking heads on CNN are saying "Rat Poison" and wondering how it happened?

Well, duh! just ask anyone who grew up in farming country! Wheat gluten comes from wheat, which is grown and harvested and stored in grain silos before being shipped off for processing. Grain silos attract rats and other grain pillaging/eating vermin, and what gets rid of/kills rats? Not exactly rocket science, people!

There was a case back in the '70's-80's where cattle/poultry/etc. poisoning was traced back to preservative/insect deterrent-treated SEED grain was accidentally sold as FEED grain.... I'll bet that this ends up being a similar incident.

Now, the MAD: Why is it that banks always post Debits immediately, while CREDITS aren't posted until the 'next banking day'? Because of this and the stupid same day deducted NSF/checking fees, I had three checks posted NSF on Thursday and of course the bank immediately deducted an additional $75! which puts my account in the hole by $100+ and which I found out TODAY via smail mail after writing a $30 check for cash -- thing is, according to MY records there should have been enough(barely) to cover those checks, if not for the bank's policy of deducting checking fees/service charges as each check comes in.....

CRAP!!!!!

Back when my Husband and I were active in the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (approx. 15 years ago) I planted an herb garden. Today the sole remnant of my interest in herbology (other than my continued preference for using herbs & spices instead of salt as seasoning when cooking) is a rather magnificent sage plant, which every summer from mid May til early June erupts into a mass of silvery-white blossoms. Needless to say, the local bees LOVE our yard -- somewhere in the neighborhood, I think there must be a hive loaded with sage-flavored honeycomb, yum!

Saturday afternoon after a stressful morning of dealing with funeral directors, well-meaning parishioners, and my shell-shocked father-in-law (yes, Husband's mother passed away very early Saturday am), Husband and I took a breather and settled down in our patio swing, with Belldandy on her leash looped around a support and some bottled water, and vegetated. After a while, we noticed that Bel was gazing very intently at the sage bush... she made a little jump back, then lunged forward and bit at the sage blossom nearest. She did this several times, and we realized that she was chasing the big yellow and black bumblebees that were busily harvesting sage pollen.

We had to laugh; it was very funny (yah, we're easily amused!)to watch Bel snap at the bees, even though it wouldn't have been so funny if she'd caught one (ouch! sting-ees!). I think it was the intensity of her expression (yes, Chow faces have expression--you just have to be able to read them, and we have almost 20 years of practice); she was just bound and determined to catch those flying whatsits!

Silly Belldandy!

(PS. Daughter insists on calling her 'Yufie-Bell' -- we can live with that!)

Well, after a month's hiatus from LJ, and a few odd mishaps, there is a possibility that this evening after running errands we will be coming home with a new fur baby..... considering the last time we went out 'just to look' Daughter and I agreed instantly that we had to bring that sweet bedraggled boy chow home from the Shelter SOON, and the time before that Husband and I drove home across the better part of two states with an eight-week old puppy on my lap. On the other hand, this one is located just on the other side of the river. will keep the fingers crossed.

Lemon Chapter of 'Shadow' going slow..... 'Still Waters' is not quite ready, 'Chiyogami' is stalled. And how are things with you all?

Edited 5/15/06 to Add:
Okay, as of tonight the new puppy is still unnamed, but it's narrowed down to 'Belldandy' and 'Yufie'.... I gave Husband and Daughter an ultimatum: name the little angel tomorrow, or I'm calling her 'Ennis'! -- this earned me a blank look from husband, and a threat of shredded manga from Daughter. We shall see.....

The three of us have agreed: the reason our house has been so cold for the past month is because there is a distinct absence of 60-pound fur-baby. So now it's a matter of finding one who needs us. Personally I'd like a little Red girl again: Chani was Red and Kahvi was supposedly a Cinnamon, which is a diluted Red; and while Chani-kins could run like a rabbit and tear through the house like a Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil and Kahvi-cakes liked to sit in mud puddles and steal (very delicately, I might add!) the cheese off unattended hamburgers, neither of them ever tried jumping out the living room window like Orion did. So we're looking, with a Red Female in mind but open to other options.

Mother Chow Goddesses without a Chow to mother are unhappy creatures...

BTW -- After watching "Rurouni Kenshin: Legend of Kyoto", I am totally convinced that Seto Kaiba's original family name was 'Shinomori'.

Our Chow Orion passed away this afternoon, around
3:45pm in his sleep. He was diagnosed with inoperable
liver tumors last October, and had been doing pretty
well up until about two weeks ago when he had a major
seizure meltdown and we rushed him to the vet's
office. She gave Orion some valium via IV and then
sent him home with a spare syringe of valium and a
warning that it would probably happen again as his
system tried to handle the toxins from the cancer.

Orion actually bounced back pretty well that time, so
when he went into meltdown again last night we hoped
for a repeat; I gave him the valium and he seemed more
or less content to sleep it off until around 11 pm
when he got restless and started making this weird
part groan, part whining sound periodly. I ended up
staying up most of the night with him, obviously not
getting much sleep, convinced that Orion was in pain
and feeling totally helpless because I'd already used
the valium.

My husband got up this morning around 8:30, sent me to bed
and called the vet, who assured him that Orion
probably(!) wasn't in pain to the extent that I
thought, and that it sounded like we were doing
everything possible to make him comfortable (since the
liver was involved, any pain medication would be next
to useless as it is the liver that processes those
drugs). When I woke up again at 11am my husband told me all
this, I checked on Orion who seemed reasonably
comfortable and inclined to snooze, so he and I left
our daughter in charge while we ran errands and got
groceries (postponed from last night due to Orion's
condition). Orion licked our faces when we got back,
but didn't have any interest in food or water.

Husband said he'd stay with Orion while Daughter and I
went out briefly to the mall since he had to tweak the
computer a bit.....when we got back, Husband was in the
bathroom and Orion hadn't moved.... I went to hug him
and realized that he wasn't breathing and his legs
were all stiff. Husband said Orion had whimpered once
right after we'd left, but that was all. He
apparently passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Long story short, we're planning to bury Orion
tomorrow in my husband's parents' backyard provided the
ground isn't too difficult to thaw. We found out with
Chani that cremation is very expensive, so we'd like
to avoid it if possible. Our daughter especially is
taking it hard-- she feels bad about insisting we go
shopping this afternoon -- but we all are pretty
broken up. For all the trouble he's caused us over
the past few years (seizures, heat stroke, breaking
windows, etc.), Orion was a very special Chow and an
important part of our lives, especially since Chani
passed.

We're going to miss that fuzzy odiferous bottomless
pit very very much.

Thanks for listening.

I swear.... half the grey hairs (carefully touched up with Lady Clairol) on my head have been caused by that Brain-Damaged Bottomless Mooch of a Gaseous Nebula Masquerading as a Canine we call 'Orion', and considering he's only been living with us for five and a half years, that's probably saying something.... something that's probably lewd, crude, and profane.

Orion has Liver Cancer. Non-operable, of course; and forget about treatment. If we were rich and famous maybe we'd be able to find some experimental procedure or chemotherapy.... but us lower middle class income types are *SOL*. Our vet, bless her heart, did research on holistic, alternative treatments.... and now the poor beast is ingesting vitamins, minerals, herbs and spices (KFC, anyone?), and eating a special formula dog food that is supposed to help with digestion and possibly 'starve' the nasty killer crabs into remission. This, I might add, in addition to his seizure medication.

I'm starting to think it's something in the local well water. All three of my darlings: 2-year old Kavhi had bone cancer, Chani developed liver cancer near the end of her long and mostly happy life (15+ years!), and now our dear Master Lickatongue, the Orion Nebulae.

Yesterday morning, he literally scared the snot out of me: I came out to the living room and found him sitting oddly in a very awkward location.... and he couldn't move his hind legs.... I was terrified, thinking that he'd tried to climb up on the sofa and fallen, and either injured his spine or ruptured something internally..... I managed to pull him into a more accessible location, with the thought that I'd have to call our vet and have her send the Animal Ambulance and if he WAS paralyzed or ruptured.... I was crying my eyes out because if he was, then I really didn't think I'd have a choice other than to have our Mr. Fuzzy put to sleep....

I woke our daughter up, told her to get dressed and what the situation seemed to be, then went to get dressed myself intending to call the vet as soon as her office opened..... Orion had spent roughly the last thirty minutes lying on the living room floor, every so often sitting up but apparently unable to move his hind legs....

And Daughter yelled "mom!" and I ran out of the bathroom half-naked and there was Orion standing up on all four legs, wagging his tail and looking reproachfully at his food dish as if asking 'where's breakfast, Mom?'

Long story short: the vet thinks it might have been either temporary paralysis due to pressure from the tumors, or an atypical seizure. Orion was sort of spaced-out the rest of the day but otherwise normal; and today he was his usual pesky, mooching, demanding self again -- thank God. Last October when Orion was diagnosed, the vet told us she couldn't say how long he might have -- it could be a week, a month, half a year -- but as long as his appetite stayed healthy and he wasn't vomiting, and he wasn't in obvious pain and his attitude was good, that we should enjoy him for all he's worth.....

Meanwhile, the Mother Chow Goddess worries and watches more of her hair turn grey.